Toni Morrison's Paradise - Essay Example

Toni Morrison's Paradise is a critical look at the quest for sanctuary of a group of people with a history of social persecution. The novel shows that in a population of people the need to withdraw from great trauma in the past leads to a denial of self knowledge and a repetition of the same patterns of persecution of others. .In this sense it looks at how how any quest that seeks paradise without acknowledging humanity and in this case femininity as part of that humanity is in the end not a paradise at all. Morrison demonstrates this theme at many levels in an artistic way that requires careful study of her ideas . Morrison initially demonstrates the humanity of the victims in this story by a careful characterization of their vulnerabilities. She then places this story in the larger context of the story through the third person commentary which is like that seen in the novels of William Faulkner. Finally she reinforces the great injustice of what was done by presenting it through the perspective of a young girl. This paper will explore the ways in which Morrison highlights the injustice of the events through the characterizations of the the women who are victimized, the third person voice that places the story in the context of history and finally through the perspective of a young girl. In Paradise Morrison establishes the framework of her drama by first showing the humanity of her female characters who eventually are persecuted in a most unjust way. By showing what are essentially decent but unconventional women in her characterization she highlights the reactionary thinking of small town values of prejudice against outsiders. Mavis Albright is a woman who is wracked by guilt by the death of her two children, Perle and Merle due to her carelessness leaving them in hot car .. She stays in Convent because she senses the presence of her children in the place and this comforts her. Her humanity is seen in her thoughts as she drifts into sleep before the persecution that comes: “ she was thinking of other things: ...children bathing in emerald waters. And exhausted by the pleasures of the night before she let herself drift in and out of sleep ..” (Morrison.p.49. 1998). These are clearly just the thoughts of a normal woman who is still mourning the death of her children and still trying to live her life, still trying not to deny her essential sensuality . Then there is Grace,a another sensual woman having had affairs with both K.D and Seneca. While she maybe sensual she is not in any way deserving of any violence. She has just come to the convent to escape the pain of the death of her mother as the conversation between Connie and Mavis demonstrates: “ “ Who is she Connie and where are her clothes?” “ Oh, that's little Gracie she came the day after her mother died.” “Died? When?” “ Seven days; seven” (Morrison.p.76 1998) The image that comes across is that of a poor orphan who is in need of refuge. There is no suggestion of villainy in her. Pallas and Connie are marked by affairs that have not gone well; in fact, there is common sub theme of sensuality that runs through the lives of all of these women. Morrison's intent is evident: she is showing that this sensuality as part of their humanity. No-one is exploited by these women and yet they come to draw the malice of the attack that occurs. Morrison uses third person commentary in the story in an effective way. Without apologizing for the brutality of the men's attack this commentary offers an understanding of the terrible social context that has driven these men to their present locale and also their hardness toward the women of the convent. Early in the novel the voice of the narration stubbornly states the motivation for the creation of first Haven and later Ruby: “ From Haven, a dream town in in Oklahoma State. Freedmen who stood tall in 1889 dropped to their knees in 1934 and were stomach crawling by 1948. That is why they are here in this convent to make sure it never happens again. That nothing inside or out rots the one all black town worth the pain.” (Morrison. p. 5 1998) The commentary makes the message very clear in the background of American history. The promise of freedom was drowned by the Jim Crow laws in the South that robbed whatever gains African American People had made, reducing them to an institutionalized second class citizen status. In this backdrop the reader gets a sense of the pain that the commentary refers to. Morrison's third person voice comments on the problems that this isolation caused later: “as each married son got his bit, which had to be broken off into more pieces for his children; until finally the owners of the bits and pieces who had not walked off in disgust welcomed any offer from a white speculator, so eager were they to get away and try some place else.”( Morrison .p.6. 1998). The isolation as indicated here in the commentary left a smaller share for each generation and forced to deal with less than their fathers the generations that followed were losing interest in the place. And if the reader would wonder what could keep a population in a land that was out of touch with the rest of the world the commentary voice makes it clear in no uncertain terms. There was the fear of an outside society that dealt with them without justice or rules. Where at any moment a man could be killed just for the way he looked. The commentary voice refers to the outside world as the “space.” The space as the commentary voice indicates was what many of the founders of Haven and Ruby knew only too well: “Ten generations had known what lay out there: space, once beckoning and free, became unmonitored ad seething; became a void where random and organized evil erupted when and where it chose – behind any standing tree, behind the door of my home..”( Morrison. p.16. 1998) In this context the reader comes to understand the men who attack the women in the convent but there is no forgiving of their terrible actions. Morrison is too great an artist to just paint characters in simple good and evil terms; however, she does not excuse the brutality of their actions. Morrison shows her outrage at the actions of the men who attacked the convent thought the perspective of a young girl. By showing the perspective this way she shows the truth o f the events through the eyes of a person who is not clouded by adult rationalizations. Billie Delia attends the funeral at the end of the novel and thinks of the women at the convent: “This was her first funeral....More on her mind was the absence of the women she had liked . They had treated her so well, had not embarrassed her with sympathy, had just given her sunny kindness. The one called Mavis was the nicest and the funniest was Gigi.”( Morrison. p.38. 1998) These happy memories turn to anger at what happened later as she thinks of them, she thinks on the revenge they deserve to get for their terrible treatment: “ When will they return? When will they reappear with blazing eyes, war paint and huge hands to rip up and stomp down this prison calling itself a town...... A backward no place ruled by men whose power to control was out of control and who had the nerve to say who would live and who would not and where; who had seen in lively, free unarmed females, the mutiny of mares and so got rid of them.” ( Morrison. p. 308. 1998). Through the eyes and thoughts of the young girl, Billie Delia, Morrison expresses all of her anger at the treatment of these innocent women. This perspective also brings into clear focus the unequal nature of the women's treatment by men who had also experienced great injustice. The arbitrary way in which the women were treated was no different from the way the founders saw the evil of the “space” where an African American person could be killed without reason and at any time. This last perspective showed that the men who attacked the women had not really learned from their own past history of persecution. Morrison really emphasizes the importance of justice. To her Justice has to be universal or there can be no Paradise. In this case the Paradise the men looked for was really just a fort barricaded in the middle of a war zone. To them outsiders were a threat and they reacted in the same way that they had been treated. This, as Morrison points out is no Paradise. Toni Morrison's Paradise is a profound study of the importance of social justice. To her the pursuit of Paradise is based on the belief of Justice. By highlighting how a group of men react in a very unjust way to innocent women she highlights that the importance of Justice is ongoing. Suffering a past injustice does not make good any attempt to inflict another on others because true paradise is where justice exists for all. References Bjork, Patrick Bryce. The Novels of Toni Morrison: The Search for Self and Place within the Community. New York: Peter Lang, 1996. Questia. 11 June 2006 . Drake, Kimberly S. "Toni Morrison: A Critical Companion." African American Review 35.2 (2001): 333. Questia. 11 June 2006 . Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. Toni Morrison A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Questia. 11 June 2006 . Morrison, Toni. Paradise.(1998) Alfred Knopf. New York. Read More